Home of Yoga Club Blog

Welcome to the 'Home of yoga Club'

Thursday 21 Apr 2011

Launching July 10th 1pm to 5pm Music, Celebration, Food & Fun.

We introduce you to the 'Home of Yoga Club' and its Partner 'Mentally Healthy WA', Act-Belong-Commitcampaign.

The Home of Yoga recognizes the significance of the community that develops through regular attendance to a yoga school over a period of time. Yoga transforms our relationship not only to our mind and body; it transforms our relationship’s to each other.

The sharing of attention to the moment, our breath, and our body in movement brings cohesiveness to the group who practice together. Eventually this connection naturally seeks to find expression in activities of fun, celebration, gratitude, and giving.

Yogis’ seek to connect off the mat, sharing interests related to yoga and wellness, dance, music, art, and food. Students experience gratitude in their heart that can find direction in giving. This can be volunteering around the yoga centre or participating in programs that reach out to the general community and wider world.

Traditionally this community is referred to as a ‘Sangha’ a group or network of friends with shared vision that can be simply as broad as sharing a love of life and recognition of the inter-dependence of all beings. In this way the individual yogi’s wellbeing benefits not only from the practice of yoga, also from participation in and sense of belonging to the community that generates around yoga.

The Home of Yoga Club and its activities is a way of giving form to the human need to connect, to come together in ways that are positive for our well being. It is also a way of opening our doors to other schools and communities with shared interest in wellness, to explore shared activities and partnerships with the wider community.

In times of turbulence and rapid change there is also the opportunity through recognising our vulnerability to affirm essential universal values and positive aspects of our human nature such as co-operation, empathy, altruism that strengthen our resilience individually and as a whole communities. It is essential in this age that we give effort to the creation of community and recognize the value of commitment, giving and belonging.

So stay tuned to our blog and watch us grow as we evolve and explore activities around music, dancing, eating, meditation and mindfulness. Become involved and help our community to grow. Begin by joining our mailing list so we can keep you up to date with events, following our Blog and by Liking our Home of Yoga face book page and suggesting it to your friends. http://www.facebook.com/homeofyoga

You can look forward to yoga dinners and picnics, events with music and dancing, mindful walks around Perth and nature appreciation,more Summer Yoga in the Park, Chai Saturdays and winter meditations. We will share a kinship with the Slow Movement and explore all its aspects. Experiment and have fun with yoga flash mobs around town and Street Yoga.

The Home of Yoga Club is seeking partnerships to strengthen and extend our activities and also to explore ways of developing our Yoga Outreach Program and advocacy. We are committed to the theme of ‘Yoga for everybody’. Here we are dedicated not only to creating a space where all feel welcomed and accepted we will also seek to find ways to make yoga available to people of all budgets so no-one is excluded from the practice of yoga and its essential benefits.

We are excited to announce our first Partnership is with the Act-Belong-Commit campaign. We feel a close affinity to their goals of promoting positive mental health. Act-Belong-Commit is co-ordinated by ‘Mentally Healthy WA’ at the Centre for Behavioural Research and Cancer Control, Curtain University.

The goal of the Act-Belong-Commit campaign is to encourage people to become more proactive about their mental health. To increase people’s awareness that “just as there are things they can do to strengthen and retain their physical health- there are things they can do to strengthen and retain mental health” such as yoga! Act-Belong-Commit also seeks to “increase people’s knowledge of activities that strengthen mental health and wellbeing” and “increase participation in activities that yield mental health benefits”. Another objective is to “ build cohesion in communities by fostering links between organizations around a unifying theme promoting positive mental health.”

Yoga is a perfect ‘activity’ for promoting mental health, all the more so because it is more than an activity it is the practice of unifying mind and body in the moment. The benefits of yoga for mental health and wellbeing are being substantiated by recent scientific research as well as thousands of years of experience by yogic practioners.

“ScienceDaily (Nov. 12, 2010) — Yoga has a greater positive effect on a person's mood and anxiety level than walking and other forms of exercise, which may be due to higher levels of the brain chemical GABA according to an article in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert” http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101111160539.htm

A survey through RMIT University conducted 2005-6 found:

“Of the one in five respondents who reported using yoga to treat a specific health concern or medical condition, more people used yoga to treat mental health issues like stress, anxiety, depression and insomnia, than used yoga for musculoskeletal problems like chronic back pain, disc injuries and arthritis.A sign of the times perhaps.” http://www.yogainaustralia.com/mentalhealth.pdf

Our yoga school was originally the ‘Transformational Yoga Institute’ and had its roots in Fremantle High St in 1985. Over the years our yoga school has given birth to a charity the www.theFamilyNurturingCentre.org The Family Nurturing Centre’s vision and philosophy is: “We believe in a world where ‘caring communities’ share the values of co-operation, respect for difference, equality of opportunity and access to essential resources. A world that prioritizes nurturing and the facilitation of relationships based on empathy, kindness and non-violence. A world that seeks above all else to protect the health of its children and its children’s planetary home. We recognize that all humans are interconnected and that each of us in our own way helps to create this world. Healthy attachments are essential to the optimal health of humans of all ages. Simple moments where we take a breath and attune to the present have great value in creating this world. In these simple moments we build trust, communication and compassion for each other, we build relationship, family and community. “

The FNC’s mission: “Is to contribute to this vision by supporting families through the provision of resources, services and education to lay the foundations of mental health and well being in the family. Through revitalizing ‘caring communities’ and connecting families and individuals that align themselves with the spirit of nurturing, empathy and cooperation, children flourish and the whole society benefits. “

The FNC has been running now for over 20 years. Out of our experience with the FNC and continuing work through our yoga school over the last 10 years we have developed a ‘Mental Health and Wellness Program’, which is expressed specifically through www.MakingSenseofMentalHealth.org. Also through workshops and trainings like the 12 hours Mental Health First Aid Training (auspiced by the University of Melbourne), The Mindful Living Program, our Stress Awareness programs and De-stress with Yoga. So we are dedicated to the facilitation of community and know well the mental health benefits that come from community.

Mentally Healthy WA and Act-Belong-Commit Campaign has partnered with the Home of Yoga club and the Mental Health First Aid Trainings. It is our commitment through this that we seek ways to make yoga accessible to as many people as possible and to promote messages of kindness, acceptance and the value of commitment and community. That the Home of Yoga be like a big home where people can come and be active and feel like they belong. As part of this commitment we are developing a scholarship and volunteer program.

We look forward to sharing with you our stories, adventures and interests.